The Harm Reduction Action Plan shows what ACC and WorkSafe are each doing to make the biggest impact to reduce work fatalities and potentially fatal work injuries in New Zealand.

The Harm Reduction Action Plan is a framework showing what ACC and WorkSafe are each doing to improving the health and safety of workers in New Zealand.  

WorkSafe leads the health and safety at work system, provides regulatory effectiveness, and has harm prevention focus areas. 

ACC incentivises workplace health and safety improvements, supports return to work, and has injury prevention programmes. 

The plan incorporates the goals and priorities of the Health and Safety at Work Strategy 2018-2028, WorkSafe’s 2018-2022 strategy and ACC’s injury prevention strategy and priorities. 

It also covers: 

• agriculture, construction, forestry, healthcare and social assistance, and manufacturing. 
• cross-sector risks: work-related health conditions, body stressing injuries, and vehicle-related injuries. 

• incentives, worker engagement, participation and representation, and prioritising workers with greater need such as Māori, Pasifika, migrant, seasonal, younger and older workers. 

The plan’s success in delivering targeted programmes that help prevent injuries and harm depends on collective action by government, businesses, sector and business leaders, unions and workers. 

A joint review of the 2019-22 Harm Reduction Action Plan shows good progress continues to be made toward reducing workplace harm through the initiatives we’re undertaking together. 

We continue to strengthen and evolve our partnership. Together we’ve identified key areas of collaboration to progress over the next 12 months to maximise our collective effort and impact and reduce workplace harm.  

The New Zealand work environment is changing at a pace not seen before; the 12-month plan reflects this pace, and the key changes happening in the health and safety system. 

The 2022-23 Harm Reduction Action Plan focuses on delivering, building on, and evolving initiatives so they continue to meet the changing needs of businesses and workers, and address key areas of risk and reduce workplace harm.   

WorkSafe and ACC are required by law to have a workplace injury prevention action plan and have worked together on this since 2016 when the first plan was published. The plan has to be reviewed at least once every three years. 

Read the plan